Women

I have been thinking a lot lately about all of the women who have inspired me. I have had the good fortune of meeting some really awesome people! I have met a lot of really great mothers who have taught me so much about myself and about life. I guess I just wanted to thank them, and share a little about what I have learned from these amazing women, especially since Mother's Day is coming soon!


1- My Big Sister JoAnn

My sister JoAnn and I are so different and similar at the same time that it gives me headaches thinking about it. I love to relax and unwind, I don't care about what I eat at all and I love tv. JoAnn on the other hand watches what she eats, never watches tv (just the occasional family movie night) and she loves to stay busy and be productive even if it drives her crazy sometimes. I think she is an amazing wife and mother but I am certain that when I have kids things will be so different.

Now with that being said, I think she is an absolutely amazing mom. She works harder every day than I have in my entire life. Her four boys are smarter than any other kids I have ever met at their age. I also love how when you talk to them they are close to each other, they love each other, they are excited to grow up, and they know that their parents love them so much. I can not say that about most of the kids I know these days.

What I admire the most about my big sister is she is not afraid to be wrong. I feel like people now a days have to be right all the time. Especially in my family, we all (myself included) have this thing where we are always on the defense. We are constantly defending ourselves even when no one is disagreeing with us. If someone brings up a hard cold fact that disputes an opinion or a guess, instead of taking it in we go into denial mode. I am working hard to move away from that, although I slip right back into it all the time. Somehow JoAnn has managed to rise above that. She doesn't have the attitude that she can do no wrong. She tries to outwardly express her emotions and say sorry for her mistakes. She doesn't see apologizing to her 8 year old for yelling at him as a weakness, and it's not.

A really long time ago my sister told me that she never wanted to be the type of parent who couldn't apologize to her kids. And she's not. She has shown me something very important. The world seems to think apologizing is a weakness, but it's not. Apologizing is a massive strength. It strengthens families, friendships and relationships. It strengthens homes and marriages. It rebuilds broken bridges. How can something that provides so much strength be a weakness? It just simply isn't.


2- My Ex Boyfriend's Mother Mandy

Mandy is awesome. I dated this guy in high school for like 2 seconds and even though I haven't had any communication with him in years his mom came to my wedding. Mandy taught me something that I love, which is that you don't have to slow down.

This woman runs marathons, works, and is a great mother to boot! I got to know both of her kids pretty well and they are both fantastic. She has this light and energy that just emits from her and her smile. When you walk into her home you can feel the laughter. I love that! I have felt peace and love in homes before, but I sure hope that my home is one that you can feel laughter in. She has always been nonjudgmental, open and accepting and just an overall great example in my life.


3- My Mother in Law Jean

I don't even know where to begin with this woman. Her whole life story is seriously an inspiration. I always said I wanted to marry a guy who loves, respects, and has a good relationship with his mother, and boy did I ever. When Matt and I got engaged I was intimidated by the amount of respect and love he had for his mother. I felt like I could never live up to her! Her cooking, her work ethic, her humility and ability to just love and keep loving no matter what. I really look up to my mother in law.

Like I said I don't even know where to being with her. I guess the number one thing that I admire most about my mother in law is how much she loves and cherishes her family. She is so proud of her 4 boys. She worked so hard to raise them and teach them, she home schooled them while working a million jobs. She moved them out to Utah so they could have their father in their lives. This woman would do anything for family. I love that.

The first time I ever entered my mother in laws home was something I will never forget. The air wraps you in a warm hug. Everything there smelled like love and tasted like peace. I spent most of my time there wondering how she got everything to feel like this. When we left I told Matt that my life's mission is to make our home feel at least something like that.

One of my favorite things about my mother in law is how graceful she is. She always says that she "earned" every single one of her gray hairs. I love that! She is absolutely stunning. The first time I met her Matt and I had only known each other for not even 2 weeks. It was awkward for me because he didn't tell me she was coming over, we were just watching netflix and he said "Oh yeah and my mom is coming over any time now." Needless to say I was annoyed by my lack of preparedness. When we she left I spent some time thinking about how beautiful she was. I hope that I can age even a little bit as gracefully as she has. She just gets that aging is normal, and doesn't fight it. I know so many women who are 50+ years old and they dress like they are 16, and it kind of drives me crazy! But not Jean. I am sure a lot of her current wisdom and grace has to do with those things that just "come with age". Either way I love my mother in law, and her priorities in life are an inspiration to me every day.


4- My Best Friend's Grandmother Darrellyn

I believe that this woman embodies Christ like love. I am going to start by saying that I have known my best friend (and her grandmother) since 7th grade. During jr high and high school I took a spiritual journey in my life and I wasn't a picture perfect influence. Darrellyn put up with me anyways. I never felt like she liked me a whole lot when I was a kid (although that could have been my own musings and insecurities coming out), but she knew my friend and I were close, so she put up with me, which was a lot to ask. But all the while I have always admired her and I have learned so much from this woman.

Christ doesn't give up on us. When the beggar and the sinner came to his door, Christ let them in. Christ opened His arms to those others would have shut out. Darrellyn does the same for her children. We can't control what our kids do when they grow up. I believe that the reason Darrellyn has the children that she does (all of them are adults now of course) is because they need her to love them. They need her to open her arms and welcome them in even when others would shut them out. And even though it is hard, she does. This woman has changed the way that I look at parenting and love.


I am so lucky to have these four amazing women in my life and to know all of them. I am so glad God gave me such great examples and influences to teach me the true meaning of love, laughter and beauty.